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Since you all seem to have made your way most of the way through this book, do you have any advice bottles will let me make the most drinks? My bottle collection has been neglected and slowly depleted and I'm down to some core basics, a london dry gin, bourbon, white rum, and reposado tequila. I'm basically trying to get the most bang for my buck with bottle purchases in the future.

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We've had a few discussions about building up a bar, such as here. You might also want to consider sites like the 12 bottle bar.

But the best answer is to skim through the Death & Co book, decide what you like the look of and get the appropriate bottles. Looking at what you've already got I'd suggest you add (at least) a golden or dark rum, rye and scotch, but it very much depends on your taste. And certainly a couple of vermouths in different styles, and a bitters collection (start with Angostura and an orange bitters and go from there)

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Nice ! Have to try this one. Just a shame for the canned pineapple juice. I used to use a juice extractor but it is really tiring to wash it. I used a straining bag and it was so easy. I guess, I'll never touch my juice extractor again haha

concerning cinnamon syrup, I thought that Ceylon cinnamon was supposed to be prefered than cassia cinnamon (as told in this video https://youtu.be/U7fVHDJy-ng

@ ~1min25) but the Death & Co book (which I finally own since Christmas, thank you Santa) advise to use cassia.
Which one did you use?

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Well, how often do you juice/strain pineapple? I have done it a few times, and while I agree it's delicious, it is not exactly a quick process! I am very glad to have the can as an option when I come home after a long day...

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Brian Miller's take on the traditional Bumboo is a beautiful rum old fashioned. I didn't have the Santa Teresa 1796 that is specified in the recipe and chose what I felt was the closest rum I had, El Dorado 8. All the little additions (vanilla & demerara syrups, 3 types of contrasting bitters) make the rum shine.

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Sounds too crazy (and looks too good) not to try.
I needed a reason to spend some money on quality Aceto di Balsamico anyway. At this time of the year, getting strawberries that taste like strawberries might be a challenge, though.

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@QuadrigaExactly... I have good balsamic already but I've been waiting for strawberry season to try this drink!

This one is pleasant but honestly the cocktail doesn't do justice to this tequila. The book called for Azul, I used Ocho plata La Magueyera which is a first rate tequila, vegetal with a touch of smokiness. The cocktail wasn't bad, but it wasn't especially remarkable.

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I was looking for something gin-forward the other day and tried the Pink Elephant. It reminded me of an elegant Bramble with the alliance of gin and blackberries. There is also a Hemingway daiquiri inspiration there with the lime, maraschino and grapefruit combination.

It called for blackberry liqueur, I subbed blackcurrant syrup (blackcurrants taste similar to blackberries but are very tart and have a slightly tannic flavor that I always loved). You really need a juniper-forward gin like Tanqueray for this to really work. And it works - it is a simple yet really great drink.

I realized too late that Barbancourt 3 stars was an aged rum, so it would have made more sense to use an aged agricole. Oh well, it was probably a bit more youthful and brash than the original, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I enjoyed this very much.

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I don't think there are too many duds in this book. Having given it a rest for a while, I opened it again tonight and found the May Fair by Eryn Reece.

Really, really good and is going down far too fast despite (I fear) its strength. Gin, aquavit, sweet vermouth, Benedictine, Angostura, Peychauds. I used my own gin, which is, let us say, quite assertive in flavour. The recipe calls for a split between Linie and Krogstad aquavits but I only have Linie so used an ounce of that rather than half of each. D&C have their 'house blends' of sweet vermouth (Dolin Rouge and Punt e Mes, equal parts) and Peychauds (2 Peychauds/1 Bitter Truth Creole) and, because I could, I pretty much went with those (Cocchi instead of Dolin, but there we are).

I posted recently in the Drinks topic that the Diamonds on my Windshield is one of the finest uses of aquavit known to man. This is another.

2

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@lesliec Thanks for reporting on this one. I have the opposite problem, I only have Krogstad and not Linie! They are completely different though. Krogstad is like a caraway- and anise-flavored gin, there is not a hint of sweetness/sherry like the Linie has. Too bad we cannot pool our resources!

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Well, we tried! My friend ended up bringing entirely nothing back for me, so I suppose I'm saved the angst of wishing he'd brought that rather than this. One must look on the bright side ...

Time to get the Lear fuelled up again, it seems.

More to the purpose, I quite like the idea of a caraway/anise gin. That's two botanicals I haven't tried in my gin.

Haha. Well that is too bad...

I am pretty sure you could pull this off. I met one of the distillers from House Spirits a while back and he explained that the aquavit was made exactly like a gin, but with different spices. The caraway seed and star anise are very prominent so it's quite distinctive.

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My aquavit experiments involved first the herbs which didn't result in the flavour I was after (Taffel) - then with essential oils. To 100 ml of 45% ETOH I added 15 drops of a mixture of 120 drops caraway, 10 drops dill, 2 drops coriander, 8 drops bitter orange.

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In the post below, there was a link to what looks to be a terrific book on beef cutting, "The Art of Beef Cutting: A Meat Professional's Guide to Butchering and Merchandising".

Reading some of the reviews on Amazon, I came across this video which I thought extremely educational, particularly seeing as I just bought a mixed 1/4 Wagyu carcass and wanted to learn more about the cuts I received , and I thought others might be interested. Its long, but I found it much easier to understand than just looking at photos. Also referenced was the free pdf/webpage CFIA MEAT CUTS MANUAL.

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At this time of year when you can hoard fresh, local strawberries because they are so abundant, why not freeze them and enjoy them all year long. Then you won't have to buy tasteless, fake looking ones in the dead of winter!

The best way to preserve them, sugar-free, and have them fresh, year-round is to freeze them. Remember to start with the freshest strawberries possible. Strawberries start to lose freshness and nutrients quickly and will only last a few days in the fridge, so the sooner you freeze them the better. Follow these steps and they will last up to a year in the freezer:
1. Gently wash them and pat them dry or allow them to air dry for an hour or so. Slice off the tops, including the stem and any white area, then cut them in half lengthwise.
2. Line one or more rimmed baking sheets (depending on how many berries you have) with parchment or SilPats. Arrange them in a single layer on the sheets. and place them, uncovered, or loosely covered with plastic wrap in the freezer. Allow them to freeze solid, about 12 hours. Once frozen, transfer the berries (they may stick to the parchment a bit, but peel off relatively easy) to a freezer weight plastic zipper bag. Press out as much of the air from the bag as possible before sealing, to minimize freezer burn over time. If you are planning to leave them in the freezer for months, then consider double bagging them. Place the bagged berries in the freezer, where they will keep for up to one year.
Note: I will warn you that the thawed berries will not be firm and bright like they were when raw and fresh. They tend to thaw out a bit mushier, and slightly darker…but can still be used for anything you would use fresh strawberries for. For smoothies, use frozen.
Optional: Brushing the berries with a bit of lemon juice before you freeze them will help to preserve their color. While strawberries can be frozen whole, cut or crushed, they will retain a higher level of their vitamin C content if left whole.

My Breville BSO 800XL just died on it's second birthday, after only *extremely* light use at my beach house. Just won't power up.

Reading online, I learned that a common failure mode is the thermal fuse blowing -WHICH IS DESIGNED TO BLOW AT <450F. This is a $3 part at Radio Shack, and there is a detailed instruction on how to replace it here: http://virantha.com/2014/03/02/fix-your-breville-smart-oven-by-replacing-the-thermal-fuse/

So I guess I'll give fixing it myself a try and report back. Has anyone here done this repair? Was it successful? And why would Breville use a fuse that is lower than the appliance's top heat settings?

I've had an idea flowing across my brain waves over the last few months. It's on every channel and I'm getting ready to pull the trigger.
I'd like to try to braise a dish in my smoker. I am thinking of braising a rabbit, but the I'm not looking for guidance on the protein/ingredients, rather the technique. I turn to you, o internet, in hope you will tell me your secrets.
Has anyone ever braised in their smoker before? I've done some research, but I haven't seen much on the "how to" for the technique. Here's my plan:
- Brown the rabbits on skillet (stovetop)
- Get the aromatics/other stuffz sweated browned, etc.
- (MEANWHILE) Smoker heats up to 300-325 degrees.
- Add stock to rabbit, bring to a simmer on the stove top.
- Transfer to smoker, braise uncovered for 1-2 hours, then cover with foil to finish for as long as necessary.
I've seen folks smoke and then braise, but I haven't seen much on the idea of braising something IN the smoker. I saw something on CookingwithMe.at about doing something similar with pork belly, but that's about it.
All I know is that after using stock+drippings from a smoked turkey created this CRAZY MIND-BLOWING flavor, so I'm basing this a lot off that idea.
-Franz